Judge Reverses Deportation of DACA Recipient

Maria de Jesús Estrada Juárez, a 42-year-old Mexican citizen who has lived in the United States for 27 years, returned to California this week after a federal judge ordered U.S. authorities to reverse her deportation to Mexico. The mother reunited with her 22-year-old daughter, Damaris Bello, on Monday at the San Ysidro Port of Entry near San Diego, following a monthlong separation that began when immigration agents detained her during a routine green card appointment in Sacramento on February 18.

Estrada Juárez, who arrived in the U.S. as a teenager in 1997, had held Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status since 2013, a program that provides temporary protection from deportation for undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children who meet certain requirements, including staying out of trouble. She was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at the appointment and deported the next day, February 19, based on a 1998 removal order issued shortly after her initial arrival. Federal officials reinstated that order upon her detention, despite her lack of awareness of it and her ongoing compliance with immigration processes.